Paper-packing device



March 9, 1926. 1,576,243 F. MENTGES PAPER PACKING DEVI CE Filed ugq 4, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet, 1

IN V EN TOR.

ATTO NEYI Patented Mar. 9, 1926.

UNlTEDSTATES ATENT OFFICE.

FREDRIGK MEN'IGES, 0F SIDNEY, OHIO, ASSIGNGR TO THE MENTGES FGLDER COM- PANY, 6F SIDNEY, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

PAPER-PAGKING DEVICE.

Application filed August 4, 1923. Serial No. 655,646.

1 0 aZZ "iv/10m it may concern Be it known that l, FREDRIOK lMlnN'reEs, a citizen of the United States, residing at "dney, in the county of Shelby and State f Ohio, have invented a new and useful Ra ser-Packing Device, of which the followin is a specification.

invent'on relates to devices for receiving folded papers as they cone from a folding machine, whereby the papers are assembled in packs.

Devices for this purpose are not new, but mine embodies certain useful improvements over those heretofore produced. One objcct of my invention is to produce a packing device which is always ready to receive papers; that is, one in which it is immaterial whether the papers come to it at regular or irregular intervals. Another object is to provide a packing device which will not rub or blur the ink in case papers come to it fresh from a press. Another object isto prevent one paper from getting into the folds of another as the papers are brought together in a pack. Other objects and advantages of my device will be made apparent, or pointed out, as the detailed description of my invention proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view, having certain parts removed in order to display other parts.

2 is a plan View of my machine.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one part'of the machine, and

l igs. 4c and 5 are elcvaticnal views of certain members of the part shown in Fig.

I shall now describe my. machine, referring to the drawings as I proceed. The frame of the machine comprises two cast iron side plates 10, tied together by round rods 11. In Fig. 1 a. portion of the near plate 10 is removed to exhibit the par s which it would conceal. In Fig; 2 only fragments of the frame are shown.

The principal part of my machine consists of a unit comprising a table 15 and packing floor 16, these parts being connected by iron bars 17, whereby the packing floor is placed on a planelower than that of the table. These two planes are parallel, however. Secured to the under side of the table, and extending from the end of the table remote from the packing ioor, is a bar 18, which is secured to one of the rods 11 by a stirrup bolt 19, thereby sustaining one end of the unit. The other end of the unit rests on a rod 20, which lies in notches in brackets 21 carried by the frame plates 10. The unit as a whole slopes toward the packing floor end, or foot, and for th-epurpose of varying the amount of this slope the brackets 21 have two notches. lVhen the rod 20 is moved from one notch. to the other thebar 18 simply rocks on the rod 11.

To form a receptacle in which to pack the folded papers, I provide two side walls 25, attached to the packing floor member 15 by means of rods 26 secured to the walls and held in brackets 27 on the packing floor by means of thumb screws '28. Thus channel or packing receptacle is formed. A spiral conveyor 30 is mounted above the table on a shaft 31 which rotates in a bear ing A pulley 38 on the shaft carries a belt 34 which is driven by means not shown, and thus the conveyer is rotated stantly. A channel is formedin the top of the table allowing the lower portion of the spiral to be below the surface of the table, so that papers can stand'on edge on the table as they are caried bythe conveyer to the edge of the table, whence they drop to the pac ring floor. The papers are dropped from a conveyer 35, by which they are carried from the folder, not shown, into the conveyor. The convolutions of the conveyer 30 are widely separated at the point where the papers drop into the conveyer, and gradually come closer together toward the end of the conveyer. The distance from thetop of the table to the packing floor is less than the vertical dimensions of the folded papers, so that after the papers drop to the packing floor the upper edges will remain above the top of the table. This precludes the possibility of one paper dropping into the folds of a. paper previously dropped. A. short distance from the edge of the table I secure to each of the walls 25 a cleat so, and the walls are set at such a distance apart that the distance from one Jack rece )tacle or simnl rece tacle. The

space into which the papers drop from the table I shall, for lack of a better term, refer to as the antechamber. The antechamber is bounded on its ends by the walls25, and on one side by the end of the table and the ends of the pushers, while the cleats 4O serve as a wall for the other side. That is, the cleats prevent the papers from falling over, which is all that is necessary.

I shall now describe the mechanism for pushing the papers from the antechamber to the pack receptacle. 'Depending from the bar 18 are; twoarms 'rl which afford support for a sliding bar 4-2. A pitman 43 connected at one end to this bar has its other end connected to a crank I I on the end of a shaft .45, a pulley A6 being carried by the other end of the shaft. A belt, not shown, running on this pulley, rotates the shaft and thus the bar is constantly reciprocated. Secured to one end of the bar L2 is a bracket 47, which carries a transversely positioned square rod 48. In addition to carrying the square bar the bracket carries a pusher 49 which is located under the table 15 and as the bar 42 reciprocates the pusher moves toand fro from a position under the table to where its forward end extends a substantial distance into the pack receptacle,

that is, past aline drawn from one cleat 4:0v

to the other. A pusher 50 is mounted on each end of the rod a8 similar to the pusher l9. Ihese pushers have flat,vertical, front faces, and as they move toward the pack receptacle they push all papers which have fallen into the antechamber past the cleats and into the receptacle. No attempt is made to coordinate the movements of the pushers to those of the incoming papers, and none is neces sary. Thepushers areflat and smooth on top, and should papers drop on them while they are projectedfrom under the table the pushers will slide from under the papers as they retire under the table, allowing the papers to drop into the antechamber. As. the distance between the cleats is lessthan the horizontal dimension of the papers the papers have to be sprung past the cleats, but the papes are only momentarily distorted, and after they return to their proper shape the cleats serve to retain them in the receptacle. A portable bulkhead 51 stands on the packing floor, and as the receptacle fills the pack pushes the bulkhead back, the weight of the bulkhead creating enough friction to offer a little resistance to movement, thereby slightly compressing the pack.

The operation of this device is so obvious that it is not necessary to describe it in detail. But it is to be noted that as the spiral conveyer 3 0,is not depended upon for packing the papers in the receptacle it does not rub the surface of the papers. lVhile it may lightly touch the freshly printed surfaces it will not rub it hard enough to blur the ink. The pushers press against the paper but do not rub it. Papers can drop into the papers to the antechamber.

spiral at any time and it is only necessary to keep it rotating in order to carry the papers to the edge of the table. It is not necessary to rotate the spiral at any particular speed with reference to the frequency of reciprocation of the pushers, for it is immaterial how many papers accumulate in the antechamber before they are pushed into the receptacle, provided the chamber does not become'crowded. The chamber is made comparatively narrow in order to insure maintenance ofthe'papers in an erect position, but even so it will accommodate quite a number of papers without crowding. Having the height of the table less than the heightof the papers standing in the antechambcr, prevents papers getting into the folds of other papers, and so long as the spiral rotates fast enough to keep too many papers from accumulating in the antechamher all will be well. Below the journal in which the shaft revolves I provide a second journal, adapted to receive the shaft 31. If this journal is used a smaller spi 211 should be used. While I have described my invention as a device for packing papers for paper folding machines, it is not limited in its field of usefulness. It may be used for other purposes. For. example, it might be used in connection with a stamp canceling 7 machine. \Vhile I have disclosed and described that which I now regard as the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is not to be supposed that in practice it is limited to the construction shown. Various modifications may be made in the structural details without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I desire that the appended claims be given as broad a construction as possible iii-view of the prior art.

that I claim as my invention is as follows:

1. A packing device for paper folding machines, comprising a packing receptacle, an antechamber therefor, a table upon which the folded papers fall, a constantly revolving spiral conveyer adapted to receive the papers as they fall andcarry them to the edge of the table, whence they drop to the antechamber, and means for moving the folded papers, one or more at a time, from the antechamber to the packing receptacle.

2. A packing device for paper folding machines, comprising a. packing receptacle, an antechamber therefor, a table upon which the folded papers fall, a constantly revolving spiral conveyer adapted to receive papers as they fall and carry them to the edge of the table, whence they drop to the antechamber, means for moving the folded papers, one or more at a time, from the antechamberto the packing receptacle, and means "for preventing the return of the 3.A packing device for paper folding kit) lllt) lll) machines, comprising a packing floor, a table on which the folded papers are first deposited, a conveyer for moving the papers to the edge of the table, whence they drop to the packing floor, a pusher which reciprocates through the area into which the papers drop and at one part of its cycle retires under the table, said pusher moving the papers one or more at a time from the area in which they fall, thereby preventing crowding of said area, and being so shaped that it slides from under papers that drop upon it while it is in said area, and means for preventing the return of the papers to the area from which the pushers have moved them.

at. A packing device for paper folding machines, comprising a packing floor, a table on which the folded papers are first deposited, a spiral conveyer adapted to receive the papers as they fall andcarry them to the edge of the table, whence they drop to the packing floor, a pusher that reciprocates through the area into which the papers drop, and at one part of its cycle retires under the table, said pusher moving the papers from said area to make room for others, and being so shaped on top that it slides from under the papers that drop upon it while it is in said area, the end of the spiral conveyer being adapted to prevent these papers from falling back on the table during the time they rest upon the pusher.

5. A packing device for folded papers, comprising a packing receptacle, an antechamber therefor, a table, a spiral conveyer constantly revolving upon an axis parallel to the table and so situated that papers dropped between its convolutions are kept standing on edge on the table while being moved by the conveyor until they reach the edge of the table and drop to the antechamber, means whereby papers are periodically transfered from the antechamber to the receptacle, the velocity of the spiral conveyer being sufficiently high to deposit two or more papers in the antechamber for each transfer of papers to the receptacle.

(5. A packing device for folded papers, comprising a packing receptacle, an antechamber therefor, a table, a spiral conveyer constantly rotating on an axis parallel to the table and so situated that papers dropped between its convolutions are kept standing on edge on the table while being moved by the conveyer until they reach the edge of the table and drop to the antechamber, the pitch of the con'volutions of the conveyor being largest at the end where the papers are dropped into it, the pitch gradually becom ing smaller toward the discharge end of the spiral, means whereby papers are periodically transferred from the antechamber to the receptacle, the velocity of the spiral con veyer being sufficiently high to deposit two or more papers in the antechamber for each cycle of the transferring means.

7. A packing device for folded papers, comprising a packing receptacle, an antechamber therefor, a reciprocating pusher whereby papers deposited in the ante chamber are pushed into the packing receptacle, and means for depositing two or more folded papers in the antechamber during each cycle of the pusher.

8. .The method of packing folded papers as they come from a folding machine, which comprises standing them on edge and moving them laterally to a position over an antechamber, and then dropping them into the antechamber, said lateral movement being in a plane below the upper edge of the papers which have dropped into the ante- ,chamber; and periodically pushing a plurality of papers which has accumulated in antechamber into a pack receptacle, leaving the antechamber clear for the reception of other papers.

9. The method of packing folded papers, which comprises assembling a plurality of papers in an antechamher and periodically pushing these assembled papers through a slightly constricted opening into a pack receptacle.

10. The method of packing folded papers, which comprises introducing them one at a time into an antechamber and then pushing two or more at a time through a constricted opening into an expansible pack receptacle.

F REDRIC K MENTGES. 

